Lehigh To Move Night Arraignment Site State Says Proceedings Shouldn't Be Held In Police Building

January 24, 1985|by VALERIE HILDEBEITEL, The Morning Call

Lehigh County district justices will no longer conduct night arraignments at Allentown police headquarters.

"It's the opinion of the administrative office of Pennsylvania Courts that judicial proceedings should be conducted in a proper surrounding," Vincent Cirilli, a Lehigh County court administrator, said yesterday.

So the county's minor judiciary will comply by moving night, weekend and holiday arraignments to the offices of District Justice Edward F. Pressmann at 506 Court St., Allentown, within the next two to four weeks.

Pressmann's office was selected because it is within a block of police headquarters, the courthouse and the county prison.

The change in setting was spurred by a letter written by District Justice Edward E. Hartman to the state administrative office.

Hartman said yesterday that he had spoken with a couple of district justices on the matter and wrote the letter "requesting an opinion on holding night arraignments at the station. It was their opinion it should definitely not be there."

Cirilli said the directive from state Special Courts Administrator Almanina Barbour of Philadelphia came as a response to Hartman's letter.

There were a number of explanations about why arraignments should not be conducted at police headquarters.

Lehigh County President Judge John E. Backenstoe said the move came primarily "to make a more suitable judicial setting for the magistrates."

Hartman took much the same tack, saying the move was not a matter of particular problems encountered at headquarters as much as a matter of law and appearances.

"There is some law that says we are not allowed to be in a setting that would make us appear a part of law enforcement," he said.

Pressmann concurred, adding, "This is an enforcement of a rule that has been in existence."

But Cirilli said some district justices had complained of "not being able to conduct their business in a proper judicial manner because of interference from police officers who were booking defendants and carrying on regular business.

"That, however, is not my contention," he added.

Potential security problems inherent in the move, however, disturb several officials.

"Frankly, I don't like the idea whatsoever," District Justice Janice B. Hettinger said yesterday.

"I'm very concerned about security, not only my own but that of the other justices. In some cases we have had defendants become unruly where it has taken four or five officers to subdue the person."

Pressmann, Hartman and the judge said they can't foresee added security risks. "Remember," Hartman said, "they don't come in on their own; the police bring them."

"When the Allentown police force brings someone in who is being very resistant, we have holding cells - the officer's and magistrate's safety is not in jeopardy."

"As it now stands, we may have to wrestle someone from the scene to headquarters for a booking and then wrestle them to another location for arraignment and then possibility to the prison. This is going to add to an officer's time spent off patrol," he added.

Added transportation of prisoners was a major issue with the chief, as far as the district justice's recent request to end the centralized preliminary hearing system now being used.

The district justices have suggested police transport defendants to and from local district courts.

"That's an idiotic suggestion," Howells said. "On-duty and off-duty police officers are not going to be hauling prisoners from here to there. When an individual is incarcerated in Lehigh County Prison, he's no longer our problem. We are not in the transportation business."

At one point, Backenstoe said the district justices had approached him to request holding the arraignments at police headquarters. The move out, he added, again comes at their request.

Both the judge and Hettinger said the greatest problem with holding arraignments at headquarters was a lack of space. But Howells said the department had allocated an office area for the district justices at one time.

"We had provided an isolated area that could have been used for office space. The county was to put in desks and lockers, but the county never did that. We have since converted the area into a patrol office."